International education

Not to be confused with International school or International studies.

International education can mean many different things and its definition is debated. Some have defined two general meanings according to its involvement of students. The first refers to education that transcends national borders by the exchange of people, for example, by students travelling to study at an international branch campus, as part of a study abroad program or as part of a student exchange program. The second is a comprehensive approach to education that intentionally prepares students to be active and engaged participants in an interconnected world.

The International Baccalaureate defines the term according to criteria such as the development of citizens of the world in accordance to culture, language, and social cohesion, building a sense of identity and cultural awareness, encrypting recognition and development of universal human values, encourage discovery and enjoyment of learning, equip students with collectivist or individualistic skills and knowledge that can be applied broadly, encourage global thinking when responding to local situations,encourage diversity and flexibility in teaching pedagogies and supply appropriate forms of assessment and international benchmarking.

While definitions vary in the precise language used, international education is generally taken to include:

• Knowledge of other world regions & cultures;
• Familiarity with international and global issues;
• Skills in working effectively in global or cross-cultural environments, and using information from different sources around the world;
• Ability to communicate in multiple languages; and
• Dispositions towards respect and concern for other cultures and peoples.

Millennium Development Goals

International education is also a major part of international development. Professionals and students wishing to be a part of international education development are able to learn through organizations and university and college programs. Organizations around the world use education as a means to development. The United Nations Millennium Development Goals include some objectives pertaining to education:

• Achieve universal primary education in all countries by 2015
• Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education by 2015

Other mentions of education in regard to international development: Education For All (EFA): An international strategy to operationalise the Dakar Framework for Action; The World Education Forum (Dakar 2000) agreed to reach 6 goals by 2015:

• expand early childhood care and education
• improve access to complete, free schooling of good quality for all primary school-age children
• greatly increase learning opportunities for youth and adults
• improve adult literacy rates by 50%
• eliminate gender disparities in schooling
• improve all aspects of education quality.

Dakar Framework for Action

The UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005–2014) highlighted the central role of education in the pursuit of sustainable development.

See also Comparative education; and Liberalism, Realism, Power Transition Theory, International Development, as focus areas that provide insight into international phenomena relevant to "International Education."

International education both as a field of study focusing on study abroad and preparing students for international occupations as well as an active part of international development is taught in many colleges and universities around the world.

Virtual Educational Exchange

Although very successful programs such as Engineers Without Borders enable students in one country to obtain an international education while working on open source appropriate technology projects abroad, the cost of this approach can be prohibitive for large scale replication. Recent, work has shown that using a virtual educational exchange, can have many of the positive benefits associated with international education and cross cultural experiences, without the prohibitive costs of trips.

International Education Week

International Education Week is held in the United States by the U.S. Department of State and U.S. Department of Education. The choice of week for celebration is determined at each institution, but is generally the third week of November (the week before the week that includes Thanksgiving), which was November 13–17 in 2023, is November 18–22 in 2024, will be November 17–21 in 2025, and will be November 16–20 in 2026. The aims of this event are to provide an opportunity to celebrate the benefits of international education and global exchange.This joint initiative promotes programs that prepare Americans for a global milieu and attract future leaders from abroad to study, learn and exchange experiences in the U.S. This shows how International education is not just about physically crossing borders, but is also about thinking globally in local situations. Schools throughout the US celebrate this week through on-campus and off-campus events.

Challenges Facing International education

International education has a somewhat unusual position in higher education. While recognized as an important sphere of activity, it tends to be handled by administrative offices at the top of departments of languages and literature and international affairs. The scholars involved in international education usually have their primary involvement in other teaching and research. This leads to four distinctive characteristics particular to the field of international education:

1. There is little consensus concerning the guiding theme of the field as well as its scope. Should the field stress internationalization, transnationalization, or globalization?

2. International education is not a prominent feature of the contemporary higher education experience. Using enrollment in foreign languages as an indicator, 16 percent of all U.S. college students were enrolled in foreign languages in the peak period of the 1960s; the proportion is currently down to 8 percent (Hayward, 2000, p. 6).

3. There is imbalance in regional coverage. The regions and languages covered at a particular institution are a function of idiosyncratic patterns of faculty recruitment. Nationally, there is reasonable coverage of Western Europe and Latin America and most European languages compared to limited coverage of Africa and the Middle East. For students enrolled in foreign languages, Spanish is the most popular followed by the other major languages of Western Europe; 6 percent enroll in Asian languages. Languages of the Middle East make up only 2 percent (1.3 being Hebrew and .5 percent Arabic). The languages of Africa constitute only 0.15 percent of enrollments.

4. Because international education is not a primary concern of most scholars in the field, research is somewhat sporadic, non-cumulative, and tends to be carried out by national organizations as part of advocacy projects (e.g. Lambert, 1989; Brecht and Rivers, 2000). The most recent example is the American Council of Education's (ACE's) Internationalization of Higher Education: A Status Report. (Hayward, 2000). However, programs through various institutions, such as the Fulbright Commission Belgium offer research opportunities for those wishing to study abroad.

Sources

• Jamison, Kevin (2004) . "Case for the Internationalization of Virginia High School Curricula", with commentary by Ambassador James Creagan, Christine Drake Phd, Senator Richard Lugar, and various other International Education experts.
• Kagan, Sharon, and Vivien Stewart. "Introduction to International Education", originally published in Phi Delta Kappan, November 2004.
• International Baccalaureate "IB Mission and strategy".

BOOKS

• Abdi, Ali A. and Ailie Cleghorn, (Eds.). (2005). Issues in African Education: Sociological Perspectives. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
• Carter, Carolyn S. (1999). Education and Development in Poor Rural Communities: an Interdisciplinary Research Agenda. Charleston, West Virginia: Clearinghouse on Rural Education and Small Schools, Appalachia Educational Laboratory.
• Caillods, Françoise, Gabriele Gottelmann-Duret, Keith Lewin. (Eds.). (1997). Science Education and Development: Planning and Policy Issues at the Secondary Level. Paris: UNESCO, International Institute for Educational Planning; Oxford, U.K.: Pergamon.
• Cummings,William K. and Noel F. McGinn (Eds.). (1997). International Handbook of Education and Development : Preparing Schools, Students, and Nations for the Twenty-first Century. Kidlington, Oxford, UK; New York: Elsevier Science.
• Garrett, Roger M. (Ed.). (1984). Education and Development. London: Croom Helm; New York: St. Martin's Press.
• Haddad, Wadi D. et al. (1990). Education and Development: Evidence for New Priorities. Washington, D.C.: World Bank.
• Heward, Christine and Sheila Bunwaree. (Eds.). (1999). Gender, Education, and Development: Beyond Access to Empowerment. London; New York: Zed Books; New York: Distributed in USA exclusively by St. Martin's Press.
• Lynch, James. (1997). A Human Rights Analysis. Education and Development. London; Herndon, Virginia: Cassell.
• Lynch, James, Celia Modgil and Sohan Modgil. (Eds.). (1997). Education and Development: Tradition and Innovation. London: Cassell, 1997.
• Mak, Grace C. L. (Ed.), (1996). Women, Education, and Development in Asia : Cross-National Perspectives. New York: Garland Pub.
• McMahon, Walter W. (1999). Education and Development: Measuring the Social Benefits. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press.
• Morris, Paul and Anthony Sweeting, (Eds.). (1995). Education and Development in East Asia. New York: Garland Pub. 1995.
• Ness, Daniel and Chia-ling Lin, (Eds.). (2013). International Education: An Encyclopedia of Contemporary Issues and Systems. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe.
• Nwomonoh, Jonathan. (1998). Education and Development in Africa : a Contemporary Survey. San Francisco: International Scholars Publications.
• Peters, Michael A. and A.C. Besley. (2006). Building Knowledge Cultures: Education and Development in the Age of Knowledge Capitalism. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
• Rojewski, Jay W. (Ed.). (2004). International Perspectives on Workforce Education and Development. Greenwich, Conn.: Information Age Pub.
• Talati, Jamsheer J. et al. (1998). Higher Education: a Pathway to Development. Karachi: The Aga Khan University: Oxford University Press.
• Youngman, Frank. (2000). The Political Economy of Adult Education and Development. Leicester, UK: NIACE; London; New York : Zed Books ; New York : Distributed in the USA exclusively by St. Martin's Press.
• World Population Monitoring, 2003: Population, Education and Development. (2005). Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. New York: United Nations.

CHAPTERS IN BOOKS

• Arnove, Robert F., Stephen Franz and Kimberly Morse Cordova. (2001). Education and Development. In Hillman, Richard S. (Ed.), Understanding Contemporary Latin America. Boulder, Co.: L. Rienner.
• Szirmai, Adam. (2005). Education and Development. In Dynamics of Socio-economic Development : An Introduction. Cambridge, UK; New York: Cambridge University Press.

Walters, Shirley. (2000). Globalization, Adult Education, and Development. In Stromquist, Nelly P. and Karen Monkman (Eds.), Globalization and Education: Integration and Contestation Across Cultures. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• Brock, Colin; Cammish, Nadine; Aedo-Richmond, Ruth; Narayanan, Aparna; Njoroge, Rose (1997). Gender, Education and Development: A Partially Annotated and Selective Bibliography. Education Research Paper. London (England): Department for International Development.
• (1996). Developing Areas Studies: A Guide to Reference Sources.

Montreal (Quebec): McGill Univ., McLennan Library.

• Heeg, Michael, Ed.; Boston, Carol, Ed (1996). Directory of Education-Related Information Centers. Rockville, Maryland. Washington, D.C.: ACCESS ERIC, Educational Resources Information Center (ED).

Further reading

• Scanlon, D. G. (ed.). (1960). International Education: A Documentary History. New York: Bureau of Publications: Teachers College, Columbia University.
• Vestal, T.M. (1994). International Education: Its History and Promise for Today. London: Praeger.
• Valeau, E.J., Raby, R.L, (eds.), et al. (2007). International Reform Efforts and Challenges in Community Colleges. New Direction for Community Colleges, No. 138. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

External links

• International education at DMOZ